Calling all fans of women who slay! New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White is giving us a brand-new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduces a new Slayer. Here’s everything we know about the book!

8 Things You Need to Know About Kiersten White’s New Novel Set in the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1. You can read, understand, and enjoy Slayer even if you haven’t seen the show.

Slayer is an entry into the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for everyone—old and new fans alike! Author Kiersten White (a huge Buffy fan herself!) provides Buffyverse History 101 to catch us up on any relevant details.

2. The book is canon.

No worries, superfans – Slayer fits within the existing Buffy timeline without contradicting anything from the show or comics.

3. In the timeline, Slayer takes place shortly after season 8.

For the uninitiated: there are comics that continue Buffy’s story after the original show came to an end at season 7. Together they make up Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 8-12. At the end of season 7, the Slayer power is opened up so every girl who can become a Slayer will become a Slayer. No more one-at-a-time! In season 8, in order to prevent a world-eating apocalypse, Buffy destroys magic—preventing any more new Slayers from ever being called.

4. Slayer stars Nina, a new Slayer with a painful connection to Buffy.

“What is it?” you wonder. Well, you’ll have to read it to find out.

5. Nina is the last Slayer of the old lines.

As far as anyone in this timeline knows, she’s the last one, ever.

6. But what about Fray?

When Melaka Fray is called in the comic book series Fray, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, there has not been a new Slayer in centuries. Fray takes place several hundred years in the future, way after Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

7. Speaking of Fray, how can Nina be a twin?

Fans of Fray will note that in those comics it’s mentioned that, as far as they know, there was never a twin called to be Slayer. When Nina is chosen, it’s an incredibly chaotic time. Nina and Artemis’s twinhood was lost to poor record keeping and the passing of three hundred years.